Jessica Brody, Mary Kole, Writing Mastery – Crafting Dynamic Characters (Writing Mastery)

Write and develop unforgettable characters for your novels and short stories!

What you’ll learn

• What makes readers fall in love with characters
• How to breathe life into flat characters
• 7 tools for effectively revealing your characters to the reader
• The 4 Foundations that make up all Dynamic Characters
• The importance of accessing a character’s “interiority” and how to use it to elevate your fiction writing
• How to brainstorm and develop Dynamic Characters from the ground up
• How to develop your character’s “voice”
• How to build and nurture the essential “reader/character” connection

Description

If there’s one secret to crafting dynamic characters that readers will remember it’s this:

Connection.

The job of a fiction writer is not just to create interesting, compelling, and unique characters, but to weave those characters into the prose in a way that engages readers and connects them to the story.

Because you can have the most interesting, compelling, unique characters in the world but if you can’t effectively reveal those characters to your readers in a way that inspires them to keep reading, what’s the point?

Welcome to Writing Mastery: Crafting Dynamic Characters

In this course, taught by character guru, literary agent and freelance editor, Mary Kole, (and developed with bestselling author and #1 bestselling Udemy instructor, Jessica Brody) you’ll learn how to not only create fully fleshed-out, dynamic characters, but also how to reveal them–and all of their wonderful nuances–in a way that grabs the reader’s attention, inspires their imagination, and captures their heart.

Mary Kole has been working with writers as a publishing assistant, literary agent, editor and writing teacher for more than a decade. She’s helped thousands of authors take flat, underdeveloped characters and turn them into dynamic ones that leap off the page.

This course was produced and co-instructed by bestselling author Jessica Brody as part of the Writing Mastery series whose courses have over 35,000 enrolled students and over 5,000 5-star reviews on Udemy!

In this course, Mary Kole teaches her “secret sauce” for character success, centering around the concept of Interiority (the character’s inner life). Mary will break down, step by step the process of building and nurturing that invaluable reader/character relationship and provide you with 7 vital tools for weaving characters into your prose in an engaging way. Additionally, she’ll break down the 4 Foundations of a Dynamic Character and walk you through the process of brainstorming and developing your own.

And throughout the course, she’ll give you tons of examples, actionable tips, and exercises to help you apply what you’ve learned and put your new skills to work.

By the end of this course, you’ll have:

• A solid understanding of why readers fall in love with characters and what makes for an interactive reading experience (an essential component of any successful story)
• 7 tools for effectively revealing characters to your readers in a way that engages them and makes them an active part of your story
• A firm grasp of the 4 foundations that make up a dynamic character
• At least one fully fleshed-out character that you can use to elevate a current work in progress or start a new story

Plus, along the way, in order to help solidify the skills taught in this course, instructors Jessica Brody and Mary Kole will take on each of the exercises in the course and share their results in fun, critique-group style “Instructor Jam” sessions. Seeing how professional writers approach the exercises will provide even more insight and context into how dynamic characters are crafted and revealed on the page.

“So in depth, so broken down into easily digestible, yummy little tid-bits of crafty goodness. I love it!” – Kat L.

“[This course] is amazing and it has been quite helpful!” – Siya S.

“Unbelievable information” – Richard R.

“This is ‘just in time’ knowledge for my first novel!” – Johnny P.

This Course Includes:

• Tons of fun, inspiring writing prompts designed to break you out of old patterns, get you thinking about character in a new way, and help you apply all the skills taught in the course
• Examples from popular works of fiction to provide context and enhance your understanding of the material
• Tips and advice from a true publishing-industry insider on how to make fresh choices, brainstorm with confidence, and elevate your fiction writing and character development skills

Whether you’re a seasoned writer or just starting out, whether you have an idea for a story, are revising an existing project, or just looking for inspiration, this course is sure to take your character development skills to the next level.

PRAISE FOR COURSES IN THE WRITING MASTERY SERIES:

• 8 writing courses
• Over 5,000 5-star reviews!
• Over 35,000 students enrolled
• Average 4.6 stars!

“Just, WOW! FULL of tips, tricks, resources, references, and actionable steps” – Tracy

“Superb. Clear and engaging – Dan

“Thorough, accurate, and well-presented –I would recommend Jessica Brody’s courses to any writer eager to rise.” – Mark

“Jessica Brody’s courses are all thorough, entertaining, and extremely helpful.” – Tricia

“As always, Jessica Brody delivers an insider’s knowledge and the tools to move forward in the process, now!” – Sue

“Very informative and well worth the time and cost.” – Noel

“Clear, concise, & well-narrated with an abundance of enthusiasm.” – Christopher

“This course is worth far more than the price of admission!” – Talmage

“Jessica Brody has a gift for distilling lots of hard-earned information into concise and tasty bites.” – Katherine

“If you write (or plan to write), get this course” – Scott

“I have learned so much information that has helped me in the writing process.” – Christy

“Good pacing, great tools, wonderful ideas… loving this course!” – Regina

“Love the videos. Very easy to understand and lots of great tips!” – Lisa

Who this course is for:

• Anyone interested in writing a novel, short story, or memoir
• Writers interested in learning more about character development
• Writers looking for inspiration for new characters
• Writers looking to breathe life into flat characters
• Writers looking for guidance on developing a character’s “voice”

Instructors

Jessica Brody

International Bestselling Author and Top-Rated Instructor

• 4.7 Instructor Rating
• 12,393 Reviews
• 50,820 Students
• 9 Courses

Jessica Brody is the author of the #1 bestselling plotting guide, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, as well as 20+ novels for teens, tweens, and adults including Sky Without Stars, The Geography of Lost Things, The Chaos of Standing Still, 52 Reasons to Hate My Father, A Week of Mondays, Better You Than Me and the Unremembered trilogy. Her books are published by major publishers like Simon & Schuster, Random House, and Macmillan. She’s also frequently hired by Disney Press to write books based on popular Disney franchises like Descendants and LEGO Disney Princess. Her books have been translated and published in over 23 countries and several have been optioned for film and television. She is also the founder of the Writing Mastery Academy, an online school for writers.

Mary Kole
Freelance Editor

• 4.5 Instructor Rating
• 477 Reviews
• 3,340 Students
• 7 Courses

Former literary agent Mary Kole founded Mary Kole Editorial in 2013 and provides consulting and developmental editing services to writers of all categories and genres, working on children’s book projects from picture book to young adult, and all kinds of trade market literature, including fantasy, sci-fi, romance and memoir. She founded Good Story Company in 2019 with the aim of providing valuable content—like the Good Story Podcast and Crit Collective writing forum—to writers of all categories and ability levels.

She holds an MFA in Creative Writing and has worked at Chronicle Books, the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, and Movable Type Management. She has been blogging at Kidlit since 2009. Her book, Writing Irresistible Kidlit, a writing reference guide for middle grade and young adult writers, is available from Writer’s Digest Books.

• Writing Mastery
  Bestselling Course Creator for Fiction Writers
  

• 4.7 Instructor Rating
• 12,393 Reviews
• 50,820 Students
• 9 Courses

Achieve your writing goals and take you writing to the next level!

Founded by Jessica Brody, author of the #1 bestselling plotting guide Save the Cat! Writes a Novel and over 20 novels, Writing Mastery develops courses to help you become the writer you want to be.

From learning the foundations of fiction to crafting dynamic characters to writing bestselling novels and publishing them, each of our courses are designed to level up your writing, with inspiring instructors, clear explanations, high-quality production, concrete examples, downloadable resources, and fun writing exercises to help you apply everything you’ve learned.

So whether you’re a new writer or already a bestseller, you’ve come to the right place for honing and elevating your craft.

All our courses are available on-demand, whenever you need them and available on any device, through the Udemy website, mobile, or TV app. And if for any reason, you’re not completely satisfied with our content, our courses come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, which means you can check out one of our courses and get a full refund if you decide it’s not right for you.

Crafting Dynamic Characters (Writing Mastery) By Jessica Brody, Mary Kole, Writing Masteryv – what is it included: (Content proof: Watch here!)

01 Introduction

001 Welcome and What to Expect.mp4

002 Why is Character So Important_.mp4

003 How this Course Works.mp4

02 Why Readers Fall in Love with Characters

001 The Most Important Question Readers Ask.mp4

002 Character Quick Start – The Game of _And_ So_.mp4

003 Instructor Jam – The Game of And So.mp4

03 Writing Dynamic Characters – 7 Tools to Instantly Engage Your Reader

001 A New Spin on Show vs. Tell.mp4

002 Point of View.mp4

003 Tool #1 – Revealing Character Through Thought.mp4

004 Exercise – Penny for Your Thoughts.mp4

005 Instructor Jam – Penny for Your Thoughts.mp4

006 Tool #2 – Revealing Character through Reaction.mp4

007 Exercise – Reaction Shot!.mp4

008 Instructor Jam – Reaction Shot.mp4

009 Tool #3 – Revealing Character through Dialogue.mp4

010 Exercise – What_s Really Being Said.mp4

011 Instructor Jam – What_s Really Being Said.mp4

012 Tool #4 – Revealing Character through Voice.mp4

013 Exercise – Voice Extremes.mp4

014 Instructor Jam – Voice Extremes.mp4

015 Tool #5 – Revealing Character through Emotion.mp4

016 Exercise – Emotional Taboo.mp4

017 Instructor Jam – Emotional Taboo.mp4

018 Tool #6 – Revealing Character through Inner Struggle.mp4

019 Exercise – Easily Triggered.mp4

020 Instructor Jam – Easily Triggered.mp4

021 Tool #7 – Revealing Character through Other Characters.mp4

022 Exercise – What Can You Do For Me_.mp4

023 Instructor Jam – What Can You Do For Me_.mp4

04 Developing Your Own Dynamic Characters

001 The Four Foundations of a Dynamic Character.mp4

002 Exercise – Meet Your Protagonist.mp4

003 Instructor Jam – Meet Your Protagonist.mp4

004 Foundation #1 – Wounds.mp4

005 Exercise – Wounds.mp4

006 Instructor Jam – Wounds.mp4

007 Foundation #2 – Needs.mp4

008 Exercise – Needs.mp4

009 Instructor Jam – Needs.mp4

010 Foundation #3 – Objectives.mp4

011 Exercise – Objectives.mp4

012 Instructor Jam – Objectives.mp4

013 Foundation #4 – Motivations.mp4

014 Exercise – Motivations.mp4

015 Instructor Jam – Motivations.mp4

016 Secondary Characters and Antagonists.mp4

017 Growth and Change.mp4

05 Wrapping Up

001 Next Steps.mp4

002 A Work in Progress.mp4

Delivery Method